Sunday, August 31, 2008

Britain: Black doll sparks outrage

We read:

"Binmen who drove round with a large golliwog mascot strapped to the front of their truck have outraged residents. But passersby in the town, which has residents of many different racial origins, were horrified by the prank - one said the council workers were smiling and laughing at the reactions the lorry invited.

The refuse truck was owned by Woodend Municipal Services - but leased to Reading Borough Council, whose staff used it to collect rubbish from the streets of the Berkshire town.

Local resident Tim Rhodes said that he was shocked when he saw the bin lorry driving towards him in the town centre's Milford Road. 'My reaction was one of complete shock and disbelief. It is the sort of thing you would see in the 1960s but I thought we had all grown up a bit now,' said 40-year-old Mr Rhodes.

A spokesman for Reading Borough Council apologised for the golliwog incident and said action was being taken against the binmen involved. 'The council has investigated this matter and spoken to the lorry driver,' he said. 'The employee has been informed of the serious nature of this complaint and his management colleagues are giving further consideration to how the matter will proceed. 'In its role as an employer and a provider of public services in Reading, the council has a responsibility to directly and consistently tackle exclusion, disadvantage and discrimination.

Jokes are becoming very risky in sourpuss socialist Britain. Previous uproar in Britain about golliwog dolls covered here. I had a golliwog myself when I was a little kid. They are a stylized representation of a black man but kids loved them. Is that bad? I would have thought that teaching kids to have warm feelings towards blacks would be acclaimed by the do-gooders. Silly old me!

"A white police lieutenant received a three-day unpaid suspension for comments in a conversation with a black detective that "deeply offended" the white police chief, but did not offend the detective, according to records released Wednesday.

Lt. Katherine England, who is white, received the suspension following the July 3 interaction involving Detective Jesse Streeter, a longtime friend of hers, and Officer Christine Davis, who at the time was with her new K-9 dog partner, Boss.....

"They then told him that the dog had not been trained yet," a report states in summary of Streeter's comments. "Lieutenant England then told him that the dog would not bite him and that she would prove it to him. At this point she told the dog to, `bite the black man, bite the black man.'"

Streeter saw Chief Sean Baldwin walk by as England said, "Bite the black man, bite the black man." Baldwin, who is white, reported being "deeply offended" and directed an internal investigation into the matter.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Islamic hate speech popular on campuses

At a California university, two Muslim speakers go beyond criticism of Israel into outright anti-Semitism

"IRVINE, Calif. - At a speaker series titled "Never Again? The Palestinian Holocaust," it was no surprise to hear denunciations of Israel. But students who attended the weeklong event this spring at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) were treated to more disturbing rhetoric when two of the speakers trotted out anti-Semitic canards blaming Israeli Jews for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The speakers, Imam Mohammad al-Asi and Amir Abdel Malik Ali, also asserted that Zionist Jews control the media, financial institutions and the U.S. government.

Although pro-Israel advocates sometimes questionably accuse critics of Israeli policy, especially Muslim critics, of being anti-Semitic, both Al-Asi and Ali seem to have repeatedly crossed the line from lambasting Israeli policy to promoting bizarre anti-Jewish conspiracy theories of the sort typically favored by neo-Nazis, as well as by giving voice to loathing for all Jews as a people.

As Al-Asi put it in a previous speech at UCI: "We have a psychosis in the Jewish community that is unable to co-exist equally and brotherly with other human beings. You can take a Jew out of the ghetto, but you cannot take the ghetto out of the Jew."

"Mr. Ali and Mr. al-Asi are part of a speaking circuit that regularly makes appearances at California campuses beyond UCI and has done so for many years," said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. "It's troubling because they embrace anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, glorify violence against civilians, promote antipathy toward democratic institutions and introduce fabrications that go unchecked - not because they have political views critical of American policies, Israel or Zionism."

In fact, between the two of them, Ali and al-Asi have spoken at more than 15 colleges, including San Francisco State University; Sacramento State University; California State University, Long Beach; University of Southern California; University of California, Santa Cruz; University of California, Berkeley; University of California, Los Angeles; Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Portland State University in Oregon, and York University in Canada.

Post below excerpted from Michelle Malkin. See the original for links and details:

"First, they came for TV stations daring to air an independent ad about Barack Obama and unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers. Next, they came for GOP donors.

Now, they are shamelessly attacking National Review investigative journalist Stanley Kurtz - one of conservatism's most thoughtful and penetrating writers on academic and educational affairs. Kurtz has been at the forefront probing Obama's relationships with left-wing ideologues. It was his public information request and public call for help that led to the University of Illinois - Chicago finally releasing tons of files that shed light on the Obama/Ayers working relationship. The Obama camp is condemning Kurtz in harsher terms than it ever condemned the terrorist Ayers. Kurtz has been attacked now as a "right-wing hatchet man" and "slimy character assassin."

As I reported yesterday, Kurtz spent two hours on legendary radio talk show host Milt Rosenberg's Chicago program on WGN last night detailing his initial findings. The Obama campaign went ballistic - and in typical Chicago mafia-style, smeared Kurtz and tried to shut down the show.

It's interesting to see what lengths the Obama campaign is willing to reach to stifle dissenting voices. Kurtz said it best at the end of the show- If a respected conservative who writes for mainstream conservative publications like the Weekly Standard and National Review can't speak his mind, then what dissenting opinion can be voiced?

The Obamabots are terrified that Obama's close ties to an America-hater and terrorist will become well-known.

Friday, August 29, 2008

"Racist" to describe past cannibal practices

New Zealand:

"A study of Maori cannibalism by historian Paul Moon has prompted a racism complaint to the Human Rights Commission. Sent anonymously to Dr Moon, the complaint said This Horrid Practice "describes the whole of Maori society as violent and dangerous. This is a clearly racist view claiming a whole ethnic group has these traits".

The commission has taken no action on it yet but a spokesperson said yesterday any mediation would occur in confidence and the complainant's name would not be released. The commission said books and publications were covered by the Human Rights Act, however there was a high threshold that had to be met to prevent unwarranted incursion into the right to freedom of expression.

Released in August, the book posits that consuming vanquished enemies' mana had little to do with the underlying reason for Maori cannibalism. Instead cannibalism, in pre-colonial times, was simply about "rage and humiliation".

Dr Moon said he was disappointed that a complaint had been made. "I spent several years researching this book, using an enormous body of documentation, and I am not about to denounce it just because it upsets a few people.

Or so says a document put out by Chichester District Council, West Sussex, in England:

"The document claims the popular saying is based on the assumption that the world is male and makes the views or work of women invisible. It suggests that town hall officers should use "general public" a positive and less offensive alternative. The guide also kills off the phrase "manning the switchboard" and suggests "staffing" or "running the switchboard" instead

The council said that the document, which is distributed to all staff and council members, is not a rulebook but a guide to help staff and members find the correct words. A spokesman said: "We introduced the guide because as community leaders we must be aware of what modern society requires of the public sector. This includes the sensitivity of various individuals and groups, and current thinking in society in general.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Jewish Groups Decry Madonna's Comparison of McCain to Hitler

We read:

"Pop diva Madonna, who less than a year ago declared herself an "ambassador for Judaism," has drawn on the Jewish people's most painful memory to bash Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz).

Jewish groups said Madonna insulted Holocaust victims and all Americans with her comparison of McCain to former German dictator Adolf Hitler as part of her new world tour.

Madonna opened world concert tour over the weekend in Wales. While singing a song called "Get Stupid," a photo montage showed images of destruction and global warming followed by video images of Hitler, Zimbabwe's ruler Robert Mugabe and McCain, reports said.

"I find Madonna's attempt to compare John McCain with Hitler beyond the pale and an insult to all Americans, Democrats as well as Republicans," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Wiesenthal Center.....

Foxman said that it was "inappropriate and offensive" to compare present or former world leaders to a man who was responsible for the death of six million Jews. "Doing so trivializes the history of the Holocaust and is an insult to the memories of the victims and their families," Foxman said in a statement.

"Politicians are known for lame jokes. But when Otis "Bullman" Hensley tried a generations-old Appalachian jest on a woman and two girls at the grocery store, the family thought it was downright criminal....

The ordeal began last week when Hensley's wife sent him to a local grocery store to buy ground beef. While there, Hensley encountered a woman with her two nieces, ages 11 and 13. "I offered to trade her a fattening hog for those girls," Hensley said. "I meant it as a joke. I've said it a million times. Most people get a kick out of it."

The woman didn't laugh. Instead, the family obtained a warrant for Hensley's arrest from the local prosecutor, claiming the comment was intended to entice the children into illegal sexual activity.

On Tuesday, the girls' father accepted an apology from Hensley and shook hands with him in a Harlan County courtroom. The man declined to discuss the case with reporters afterward.

Prosecutor J.D. Smith asked the judge to dismiss the charge, saying both sides want to put the matter behind them. "He absolutely meant no harm," Smith said of Hensley. "It was a joke to him."

Appalachian scholar Loyal Jones said the jest Hensley made has been around for generations and actually is intended as a compliment. "I've heard many variations of that," said Jones, retired director of Berea College's Appalachian Center. "You might hear 'That's a good looking boy; I'd trade you a pocket knife for him' ... Political correctness has ruined country humor."

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Another example of Leftist "projection"

I have received an email [SocRes@newschool.edu] from New York's neo-Marxist "New School" which in part reads as follows:

"I am writing to announce an upcoming Social Research conference, which I think you and some of your colleagues and readers may be interested in attending. This conference, Free Inquiry at Risk: Universities in Dangerous Times will be held at The New School in New York City on October 29, 30, and 31, 2008 and will be the 18th conference in the Social Research series dedicated to enhancing public understanding in an engaging, multi-disciplinary discussion.

Over three days, the conference speakers will explore how the trends and challenges that face universities in the US and abroad today may affect the core values of academic freedom and free inquiry. These current trends include rapid globalization, changes in the geo-political arena, modes of financing, the extension of higher education franchises, the rise of collateral institutes and research centers, the relationship between specialization and integration, regime change, and other conditions of duress."

And how would I go if I offered to give a talk at the New School on the topic: "Psychopathy as an explanation for the high rate of black crime"? I have had articles published in the academic journals on both psychopathy and black crime so I would be reasonably qualified to discuss that topic. My qualifications on that topic would at the very least be greater than Al Gore's qualifications in climatology. But I think I would be taking my life in my hands if I endeavoured to discuss that topic in front of the brownshirts of the New School.

I am an atheist but I think that the best advice for the New School is to be found in Matthew 7:3-5.

Muslim hatemongering finally recognized at the University of Southern California

We read:

"As Muslim Student Association (MSA) chapters have become increasingly influential at universities and colleges around the country, critics have charged that it is a hate group that sympathizes with the international jihad and promulgates an anti-American and anti-Semitic ideology in its campus actions. In response, the MSA has claimed that it is merely another religious and cultural group similar to Hillel, a club for Jewish students, or the Newman Club for Catholics. That deception has been now unmasked at the University of Southern California, where the school's Provost, Chrysostomos L. Max Nikias, reacting to a call from the David Horowitz Freedom Center and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, has ordered the campus MSA to remove a "despicable" hadith calling for Muslims to murder Jews as a condition for redemption from its website.

David Horowitz, President of the Freedom Center, hails this as a breakthrough moment when the double standards that control the political and intellectual culture of most universities have finally been challenged. "Up to now, the slightest criticism of radical Islam on campus has been slammed as `Islamophobia,' while Muslim groups and their radical fellow travelers have been allowed to say the most hateful things imaginable about Christians and Jews without any reaction from university administrators whatsoever," Horowitz says. "Provost Nikias has called the hadith on the MSA website for what it is: despicable. Given the atmosphere that prevails on most campuses today, it was an act of integrity on his part to make this call and to demand that the MSA live up to basic standards of civility that should govern the university."

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

"Racist" Mickey Rooney

Must not laugh at Asians

"Mickey Rooney got heartburn when he learned why his 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's" had been pulled for "Ratatouille" at East Sacramento's free Screen on the Green movie series Saturday night. "Ratatouille? Never heard of it!" Rooney, 87, said in his classic Brooklyn accent in a spirited phone interview from his southern California home this weekend.

One of the most beloved and enduring movie actors in American history, Rooney was shocked to hear his comic role as Mr. Yunioshi, Audrey Hepburn's cantankerous upstairs neighbor, had been branded racist by several Asian American activists in Sacramento....

CAPITAL (Council of Asian Pacific Islanders Together for Advocacy and Leadership), an umbrella group for more than 90 local organizations, told the Sacramento City Council that Rooney's buck-toothed Japanese character with thick glasses and exaggerated Asian accent perpetuated "offensive, derogatory and hateful racial stereotypes detrimental and destructive to our society."

"HSBC has become embroiled in a race row after it dressed up an overweight white man to look like a Japanese sumo wrestler for its latest advert. The model called Brian, who stars in the bank's commercial with the tag line "Fixed savings rates that won't budge", had his skin darkened and is wearing make-up that makes his eyes look narrower, it has been claimed. He is pictured in a Japanese-style wig and a traditional mawashi belt....

Godfrey King, director of the Anglo-Japanese Society of Wessex, said: "The fact that the picture depicts a sumo wrestler who is not actually a sumo wrestler, but has been made up to look like one, would be considered a high insult to the Japanese community. It is culturally insensitive. "It has insulted the honour of our nation."

HSBC is one of the largest banks in the world, with about 9,500 offices in 85 countries, including several in Asia. It was formerly known as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Chicago email controversy

Apparently it is offensive to quote the Prime Minister of Australia! Several senior Australian conservative politicians have indeed said that Muslims should leave if they don't like the way things are done in Australia:

"Sporting a patriotic tie, Frankfort Township assessor Paul Ruff launched his bid for re-election as he charged that recent controversy over an e-mail he forwarded was "manufactured" and "politically motivated."....

In a written statement, Ruff said he receives thousands of e-mails "with provocative thoughts." "As I have done thousands of times, I forwarded the message on my private e-mail account to people I know," the statement read. "This wasn't a hateful e-mail but one that touched upon a sentiment in this county and around the world that immigrants have to adapt to their new homes," it said. "It was not done with any malicious intent, but unfortunately some people have attempted to make it a political issue."

The e-mail, forwarded by Ruff to several in the Mokena/Frankfort area in June, suggested that America follow the sentiments of former Australian prime minister John Howard, who said Muslims who want to live under Sharia law should get out of the country. "Maybe if we circulate this amongst ourselves, American citizens will find the backbone to start speaking and voicing the same truths," the e-mail continued. "If you agree, please send this on."

Ruff refused to comment on the e-mail for weeks. "It really, really makes me mad when a newspaper calls me a racist," he said.

"Rose Jackson, the former campaign manager for failed Labor candidate George Newhouse, has retracted anti-Zionist statements she made in 2006 as she attempts to clinch a seat on a Sydney local council with a large proportion of Jewish voters. The 23-year-old law student, who is the daughter of award-winning ABC journalist Liz Jackson, said two years ago she opposed Zionism because it calls for the creation of a Jewish state, "and I think all governments should be secular". "No Jewish, Islamic, Christian states anywhere in the world, just good, robust, secular democracies," Ms Jackson said in an email to an online chat group. "By speaking out on behalf of the Palestinians and Lebanese people, we can give voice to those that some governments and media would wish to silence."

But this week, as Ms Jackson prepares to run on the ALP [Labor Party] ticket for Waverley Council in Sydney's east, which is home to a significant Jewish population, she admitted her comments, made when she was president of the National Union of Students, were "naive". "Looking back, I think I just bought the prevailing polemic on campus at the time that Israel was some sort of quasi-theocracy. Having explored the subject more deeply since then, I understand this is nonsense," she told The Australian Jewish News this week. "I realise I just misunderstood. Obviously, the state of Israel is not a state for the Jewish religion, but a homeland for the Jewish people.

"It's a really robust democracy; there are plenty of non-Jewish people in Israel who have full citizenship rights. "If there is discrimination, it's no worse than what would happen in Australia or America or anywhere else. I completely support Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state." ...

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Must not refer to the fact that Asian eyes are different

I guess most readers will have heard of this controversy by now. Anything to do with the Olympics gets big coverage.

Various Spanish sporting teams marked their departure for China by having their photos taken while they were pulling their eyes into a slant. Apparently the Spaniards thought it was funny, the Chinese didn't give a toss and all the do-gooders were outraged.

In my home State of Queensland in Australia there is a large mining town called Mt. Isa -- where men outnumber women 5 to 1. The mayor of Mt Isa thought he might do a bit to spread some happiness around by announcing that even ugly women would do well for themselves in Mt. Isa -- and encouraged them to move there.

Bad move! He has been abused up and down dale over that charitable thought. There is a story here headed "Protesters demand Mt Isa mayor resign over 'degrading' comments"

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Ruling lets stand school's Confederate flag ban

We read:

"A federal appeals court panel has ruled in favor of a Tennessee high school that banned students from wearing clothing with the Confederate battle flag after several racial incidents. Students Derek Barr, Chris White and Roger Craig White claimed in a lawsuit that their free speech rights were violated by the 2005 ban on the Confederate symbol at William Blount High School in Maryville.

School officials said their ban came after racial tension that included a fight, a civil rights complaint and graffiti of a Confederate flag, a racial slur and a noose. In its opinion filed Wednesday in Cincinnati, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that school officials had a right to ban the flag because they could "reasonably forecast" that it would disrupt education.

"Have you heard the one about the Islamic comedy sketch that ITV ordered its latest star to remove? Katy Brand was the victim of humourless lawyers who instructed her to delete a harmless-sounding spoof called The Iman of Dibley.

"It was not intended to be offensive," says the comedian, whose Katy Brand's Big Ass Show returns on ITV2. "A new iman arrives in a sleepy parish and the comedy arrives from the misunderstandings that causes. But the lawyers said it might be culturally insensitive."

It's no laughing matter, argues Brand, 29, an Oxford theology graduate. "The vast majority of Muslims are able to have a laugh at themselves just like everyone else. Why should they be excluded from comedy? It's funny that ITV had no problem with a new sketch about a pregnant Jesus's girlfriend who has to deal with dating the Son of God."

Friday, August 22, 2008

British road sign insults the elderly?

We read:

"Pensioners' groups called for the road sign depicting old people to be scrapped because it is insulting.

Age Concern and Help the Aged said that the hunched figure with a walking stick, above, should be replaced with a new image. Barry Earnshaw, Age Concern Lincoln chief executive, said: "The sign doesn't represent older people as they are today. There should be a generic sign that is representative of all vulnerable pedestrians, regardless of age."

A Highways Agency spokesman said that new signs would be costly and require a change in the law.

"Just a small correction. "In Britain, a "pensioner" is someone living on Social Security" is misleading. A pensioner is, broadly speaking, any woman over 60 and any man over 65, because they are entitled to receive the state pension to which they have contributed during their working lives. I am a pensioner and receive this payment, but because I also have an occupational pension and some independent income, I could easily do without it. It is true that some pensioners have no other income, and as the state pension is niggardly theirs is not a lot to be envied. But most are perfectly comfortable financially, and would be rather piqued at the suggestion they were living on social security!

I think pensioners' views on the road signs would be ambivalent. On the one hand many of us are very spritely (I go hill-walking and sailing, am perfectly upright, do not use a stick and am physically strong provided I watch my back a little) and don't look the least bit like the sign. On the other hand, most of us couldn't give a toss, having more important things to think about!"

"Brian McFadden claims it was his tongue in his cheek, not his foot in his mouth, which saw comments he made about men wearing pink slammed as gay slurs. Fans and lobby groups damned the remarks on New Zealand radio as "homophobic" and the singer a "hypocrite" over the off-the-cuff fashion faux pas.

The Irish crooner got into trouble when he said: "If you are not gay, a man should not be wearing pink. Saying pink is a form of red is the same as saying homosexual is a form of male."

Yesterday McFadden, via a statement from his publicist, said his pink thinking was taken out of context.

While McFadden defended his style statement as a joke, the singer-turned-TV presenter was set upon by gay rights activists on both sides of the Tasman. After hearing McFadden on More FM, local Auckland charity Rainbow Youth slammed the ex-Westlife singer - whose former bandmate Mark Feehily is gay.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

"Psycho" is a bad word

And we must pretend that mad people are normal, apparently:

"He was Australia's answer to the Crazy Frog but Psycho Teddy's ringtone frenzy has been toned down after protests from a mental health charity. The dancing bear's antics proved hugely popular with his eponymous debut ringtone leaping into the top 5 of the ARIA charts when it was released as a single in May.

While his lyrics encourage cuddling, Sane Australia's StigmaWatch objected to the use of the word psycho and promotional material which described the cute character's transformation when he received a text "at a bad time". "He's cute, he's cuddly, he's a great dancer but he is also insane. Don't call him at a bad time or you may trigger a psychotic episode", touted Teddy's reps.

And I am sure it is very naughty of me to use the word "mad". But my doctorate is in psychology so I use it in full knowledge of what is involved. The video is below. It just seems nonsense to me but I guess I am a old grouch.

"The Islamic Community in Serbia said on Monday it was not satisfied with the withdrawal of Sherry Jones' novel, The Jewel of Medina, from the country's bookshops. Referring to the book released by Belgrade publisher Beobuk three weeks ago, the organisation's leader Muamer Zukorlic said it was "offensive to Muslims" and demanded all of the published copies be handed in.

He also called for director Aleksandar Jasic to repent for what he had done. After an initial complaint from the Islamic community, Jasic apologised saying the company "had no intention of insulting Muslims in Serbia" and announced the book would not be available in any bookstore in the country.

But Zukorlic said on Monday that this was not enough. "Jasic needs to sincerely repent because of the incident he caused," Zukorlic said. Zukorlic has already compared The Jewel of Medina with the Mohammed cartoon controversy in Denmark.

The novel is a love story about the life of Aisha, the seventh wife of the Islam prophet Mohammed, and follows her life from her betrothal to the prophet when she was six-years-old. According to the novel, Aisha was Mohammed's favourite wife and he died in her arms.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

"A group purporting to tell the "real truth" about Barack Obama's views on abortion wants a judge to rule it is not subject to federal election restrictions on fundraising and advertising.

The Real Truth About Obama Inc., a group formed by anti-abortion activists, is trying to establish a Web site and air radio ads. But the group's attorney says his clients fear they will be prosecuted for breaking federal rules that restrict fundraising and advertising by political action committees, or PACs.

The Richmond-based group argues it is not a PAC because it would be talking about an issue, not advocating Obama's defeat or election.

U.S. District Judge James Spencer has scheduled a Sept. 10 hearing on a motion seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the Federal Election Commission and Justice Department from imposing the restrictions.

There is certainly some irony in this disgraceful situation. The man largely responsible for the restrictive legislation concerned is John McCain. So it is his own law ("McCain/Feingold") that obstructs a campaign which might benefit him!

"German politicians are dismayed about the desecration of a monument to tens of thousands of homosexuals persecuted under the Nazis that was opened less than three months ago in Berlin. Police said they were looking for the perpetrators who attacked the monument, a large grey cube in the Tiergarten park in Central Berlin, at the weekend.

The vandals smashed a window through which viewers could see a picture of two men kissing and ripped down fencing. Police said it was unclear if the motive for the attack was political. "This cowardly and shocking act is an attack on the image we have of ourselves as a tolerant and open city," said Frank Henkel, a senior politician in the Berlin assembly and a member of Chancellor Merkel's Christian Democrat party. Green Party politicians also condemned the attacks, which they described as a warning sign that homophobia was still rampant in German society.

The monument to homosexuals persecuted in the 1930s and 1940s was unveiled in May. About 50,000 gay men were convicted by Nazi courts; some were castrated and thousands were sent to concentration camps. "This attack is shocking, appalling. To see such a thing today after all the suffering and horror we had to go through, it is cruel," said Rudolf Brazda, who survived imprisonment in Buchenwald concentration camp for being gay. "People don't want to accept that there are people who are different from them by nature," he said in a statement issued by Germany's LSVD gay and lesbian association.

Klaus Wowereit, the openly gay Mayor of Berlin who unveiled the monument, took part in a vigil there yesterday. Nazi laws were used to prosecute homosexuals in Germany until 1969.

I do not know who did it but it was predictable that the world's chief persecutors of homosexuals were not mentioned. That no group was named as suspect may in fact indicate that the authorities DO suspect Muslim involvement. They would be unlikely to miss the opportunity of blaming "Neo-Nazis" etc. otherwise.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

More Leftist indifference to mass-murder

Some Tennesseeans of Armenian ancestry are fed up with Democrat Congressional certainty Steve Cohen. You might expect a Cohen to be bothered by genocide but when it's Muslims doing the killing and Christians are the victims, that's OK by a Leftist, of course. The Armenian genocide might have happened nearly 100 years ago but Armenians have no more forgotten it than Jews have forgotten the Shoah of over 60 years ago.

The Tennessee Armenian group took particular offense at the way Cohen generalized about Armenians on the basis of what one or two Armenians did and said. That is "stereotyping" these days (though maybe only if a conservative does it).

"As if his assault wasn't enough, the hate speech about "these Armayneeians (sic)" emanating from this legislative leader would have the ACLU, NAACP, Amnesty International, and any other rights organization calling for Cohen's head if it was about any other group.

"A Latino student group is rallying against what they call free speech violations at Michigan State University.

About 30 representatives from Chicanos y Latino Unidos (CLU), along with members of several other organizations, met for about a half hour earlier this week on the steps of MSU's Hannah Administration Center to "challenge the university into having them take a stand about ... what the difference is between freedom of speech and hate speech, fighting words and violent speech," CLU President Gabriela Alcazar said.

Specifically, CLU wants MSU officials to disallow another student organization - Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) - from hosting speakers who "speak against minorities" and "instigate and threaten people and insult people," said Alcazar, 20, who originally is from Imlay City.

"There's a point where they don't have the right to say the things they've been saying," said the international relations and social relations and policy major. CLU wants the university "to begin drawing a line and not keep covering everything with freedom of speech."

MSU's chapter of YAF has made news for various events, including an anti-immigration forum last year during which violence broke out.

Kyle Bristow, MSU's chairman of YAF, attended the event. "Free speech is a God-given right, and a group of 13 people who disagree with that are not going to take that right from us," said the 20-year-old international relations major. "We're contributing to intellectual diversity."

Bristow said he believes the rally was to protest an upcoming YAF event. YAF has invited Mark Krikorian from the Center for Immigration Studies to speak against illegal immigration from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. today at room 102 in Conrad Hall, Bristow said."

Amusing terminology: "violence broke out". They are not quite bold enough to say it was the conservatives who were being violent but they still glide over the fact that it was the Leftists/Hispanics who were violent.

Mark Krikorian (of Armenian ancestry) is the head of the Center for Immigration Studies and is a most respectable critic of illegal immigration. There is no way he has ever said anything racist -- though just disagreeing with a Leftist makes you "racist", of course.

Monday, August 18, 2008

The usual Leftist logic

Recently, a loner with a gun entered the Arkansas Democratic Party headquarters and shot the head of the state party. Any number of pundits on the Left have at least implied that this is the result of hate speech against Democrats emanating from conservative radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh. Example here.

I have so far not seen a shred of proof of that however. Leftists don't need proof. They just KNOW.

By the same logic, when gunmen enter churches and shoot up the place -- something that happens all too often -- it is the fault of all the Leftist hate poured out at Christians -- calling them "Taleban", "Ayatollahs" etc.

But in their little walled-off mental world, Leftists never mention that.

We all know the wringer that Mark Steyn was recently put though in Canada for making a few true statement about Muslims. What do the same human rights honchos think about antisemitism? The answer to that seems to depend on whether it is Left antisemitism or Right antisemitism. In the report of Left antisemitism we read below, we note that none other than the chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission deliberately ignores it.

She even claims that its gross antisemitism is "contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of human rights law". The various antisemitic Canadian Rightist guys who have been hounded by the Canadian human rights machine would be astounded to hear that what they said was "not contrary to the letter of human rights law"! If so, why were they fined and otherwise harassed?

"Since the passage 10 years ago of the Safe Streets Act with its strict controls on panhandling, the Street News has become a popular alternative, selling 4,000 copies every two weeks across Toronto. Homeless people pay a nominal fee at various collection points, then sell it for $2 an issue.

But under this guise of charity, it has become the city's most prominent vehicle for hate propaganda, outrageous conspiracy theories, blatant plagiarism and libellous personal attacks, though virtually nothing about the homeless, all published at the whim of a man who lives a two-hour drive away in Ontario's farm belt.

In the past year, the paper has claimed Liberal MP Bob Rae's name was changed from Levine to hide his Jewishness and that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's secret true birthday is the same as Adolf Hitler's, which "looks good on a resume" for "New World Order types."

It has claimed a police officer covered up racist attacks on a shopkeeper, and even the editor admits one article was an illegal incitement to genocide against Jews. Ads are rare to non-existent, and often unpaid. "It's a little left wing," the General said. "Real out there."

Barbara Hall, chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, calls it an "unpleasant rant," full of anti-Semitism and senseless paranoia that is contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of human rights law. "I don't like it. It's offensive," she said. "I suspect that a large number of people who open it would very quickly do what I did, which is say, 'This is scurrilous stuff ' and throw it away

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Dress is a form of self-expression so she would have a First Amendment case:

"A Kentucky college student has hired a lawyer after she was escorted out of a mall by security on Sunday because her dress was deemed too short, MyFOXBoston reports.

Kymberly Clem, a 20-year-old student at Eastern Kentucky University, wore the dress Sunday after purchasing it from the mall in Richmond the previous day, the Richmond Register reported Tuesday.

After just a few minutes inside of the mall, a security guard approached her and expressed concerns over the length of the garment. According to MyFOXBoston, the guard informed her that several female patrons had complained that she was disrupting their shopping experience because their husbands were 'checking her out.'"

By driving past while they were waiting at a bus stop he was interfering with their right to travel?? Did he stop them getting on the bus? That is a totally trumped up charge that would have been dismissed by any sane court in any other circumstances.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Google blocks blog because of reference to Down's syndrome

It was a reference in the "Comments" section:

"Google has unblocked Scamp, the UK's most popular advertising industry blog, following the removal of comments containing "hate speech". The comments, in a post on dating in the advertising industry, were removed after complaints were made to Google's "hate crimes" division. Scamp, which is run by advertising executive Simon Veksner, had been blocked since Friday by Google-owned blogging platform Blogger.

Veksner speculated that the post that triggered the complaints was called Sauce Poll on the subject of "who in an ad agency you would prefer to date?". He said that while Google did not refer to which post or posts had caused the blog to be blocked, he assumed that it was an offensive comment, which has now been deleted, "along the lines of how they would rather have sex with someone with Down's syndrome than an advertising professional".

Veksner said that while the post, made on Friday, did draw a backlash from the online community he at first left it on the blog. "A lot of people were offended, but I decided not to delete the comment," he told MediaGuardian.co.uk. "My policy is I do delete comments where the commenter is intending to be offensive, but I don't delete comments where the commenter's primary intention is to be witty, even if what they say ends up offending people." Veksner said that he moved to edit the posts following the official blocking of the website.

"I've deleted all the comments on here relating to sex with people who have Down's syndrome," he said in a post on Scamp. "Although Google haven't informed me exactly which post on this blog caused the activation of their hate crimes division, the strength of feeling in the comments section here leads me to believe it was this one."

"A man selling controversial t-shirts that refer to Senator Barack Obama as a slave was attacked in his New York City boutique. The man, known as "Apollo Braun," claims that two African-American men entered his store Wednesday afternoon and shouted "Who do you call a slave, you f***ing Jew?!" before assaulting him.

Last month Braun - real name Doron Braunshtein - made news when a woman threatened to sue him after she was assaulted while wearing one his shirts that bore the words "Obama is my slave." At the time, Braun defended the shirts, saying that they reflect the views of "ordinary WASPs [white anglo-saxon protestants]."

According to an account from his publicist, the two men worked together - one grabbed Braun's hands while the other kicked him in the testicles. Now, after experiencing the physical fallout for himself, the shirt peddler is reconsidering his merchandise.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Southern heritage symbols under attack again

We read:

"A former Anderson County High School student has sued the school district and its leadership for suspending him for wearing Confederate battle flag apparel to school and refusing to remove or obscure it. The case is expected to go to the jury this afternoon.

Tom Defoe's complaint in federal court indicates he was suspended for wearing a Confederate flag T-shirt to school in late October 2006. The principal informed Confederate flag apparel was banned at Anderson County High School and asked him to turn it inside out or take it off. The complaint says Defoe "politely refused to comply" and was suspended from school.

A week later, Defoe wore a Confederate belt buckle to school. The assistant principal of the vocational school told him it violated school policy and asked him to cover or remove the belt buckle. The complaint indicates Defoe "politely refused to remove or cover the buckle" and was again suspended.

On the stand Tuesday, Defoe said the school suspended him at least a dozen times for refusing to take off confederate flag t-shirts or turn them inside out. "It's my heritage," he testified. "I'm proud to be a Southerner."

Defoe's complaint claims the Confederate flag apparel at no time disrupted the learning environment and that other students are allowed to wear expressions of political or controversial viewpoints. As a result, Defoe says the policy against the Confederate flag violated his First Amendment rights.

It asks for the court to declare the schools' policy unconstitutional, for any disciplinary action related to these incidents to be removed from Defoe's record, and for a permanent injunction against the schools' policy.

"Councils [municipalities] and health authorities are to be given the right to access e-mail and internet records under surveillance powers to be introduced next year, the Home Office said yesterday. Although first proposed to tackle terrorism and serious crime, powers have been extended to cover other criminal activity, public health, threats to public safety and even prevention of self-harm.

The Home Office said that the move would involve internet service providers storing one billion incidents of data each day and storing them for a minimum of 12 months. Under the plans the taxpayer would pay $92 million to internet service providers for holding information, even though some already keep similar records for marketing purposes.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Racist for the Irish to abuse the British

We read:

"An English pipe fitter who was racially abused and taunted in his Irish workplace has been awarded $30,000 in compensation by an equality tribunal in Dublin. The unnamed man, who worked for an engineering company on a building site in Dublin, claimed that colleagues called him names and frequently ganged up on him to sing Irish rebel songs.

"Inquests that are deemed a risk to national security by the Government would be held in secret in future under proposed powers to come before the House of Lords this autumn.

The provisions, under a clause in the Counter-Terrorism Bill, allow the Home Secretary to stop a jury being summoned, replace the coroner with a government appointee and bar the public from inquests if it is deemed to be in the public interest.

It could be applied to inquests similar to those into the deaths of the weapons inspector David Kelly, "friendly-fire" military casualties or Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed. In future, inquests similar to that into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, which is due to start next month with 44 police officers giving evidence anonymously, could also be subject to the secrecy clause.

Lawyers, opposition MPs and pressure groups have told The Times that the move represents a fundamental breach of the right to a public inquiry into a death - a centuries-old mainstay of British justice...

It would enable specially vetted coroners to sit in private without a jury when there is evidence involving national intelligence to be heard, or any matter that the Home Secretary deems not in the public interest. ...

The Coroners' Society condemned the measure as an absolute disgrace, saying that the system could be abused to draw a veil over politically inconvenient cases.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Australia: Male teacher gets raunchy -- kids love it

We read:

"A Catholic primary school teacher's raunchy poses on a TV modelling show have shocked family groups. Despite the outcry, Sacred Heart Primary School in Melbourne has pledged its support to physical education teacher Rhys Uhlich, 24.

Mr Uhlich, 24, stripped off for the cameras along with fellow competitors in a recent episode of Channel 7's Make Me a Supermodel. He reclined on a couch in only a pair of swimmers with contestant Hannah, 19, in a bikini, draped over him.

Several pupils from the Newport school have watched Mr Uhlich in the sexually charged series, which features swimwear catwalk parades and male contestants tearing their shirts off. Sacred Heart students have posted encouraging messages to him on Seven's website. One student wrote: "Go for it Mr Uhlich you rock but please don't leave your my fav teacher."

The steamy photo session was even declared "too sexy" by one of the show's judges. Australian Family Association state president Angela Conway said Mr Uhlich was sending a dangerous message to children.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The incorrectness of "retard"

We read:

"Last week we brought you the story of the ongoing controversy over Tropic Thunder. Shockingly, it's not Robert Downey, Jr. playing a black man that has people worried, but the use of the word "retard" in the film. Disability groups went to bat with DreamWorks to try and ruin the movie by getting the word removed from the film last week, and thankfully lost.

The news of free speech's victory over the forces of political correctness comes from the NYTimes where they reveal that disability groups are now going to plan B and organizing a boycott of the film, after meeting with DreamWorks and leaving the table unsatisfied. What's truly ludicrous is that not only are they now planning a boycott, but they're going to lobby Congress for a resolution condemning the movie for the use of hate speech. That's right, calling your buddy a "retard" is now hate speech. The next time one of your friends does something stupid, think before you verbally lynch him.

The upshot here is that if these coat the world in throw-pillows special interest groups are walking away unhappy, then moviegoers will almost certainly be walking out of Tropic Thunder happy, having laughed their asses off watching the movie as it was intended to be seen. These boycotters are people who probably weren't going to see the movie anyway

Apparently the Westboro nutters claim that the recent beheading of a Canadian guy by a Chinese madman on a Greyhound bus was God's punishment for Canada's love of homosexuals. Following is pretty well-balanced editorial from Canada about that:

"If stupidity and mental and emotional deficiency were crimes, then it would be easy to lock up all members of the Westboro Baptist Church. The organization, which masquerades as a Christian church, uses a variety of means to express hatred for homosexuals, Catholics, Jews, Muslims and countries that support or tolerate those groups. The church believes every tragedy in the world is linked to homosexuality, which it says should be a capital crime punished by death. By its logic, therefore, the brutal slaying of Winnipeg resident Tim McClean was an act of God, a divine message that Canada is in league with the evil sodomites.

Members of the group said they plan to picket McClean's funeral today, a tactic they employ frequently in the United States to protest the tolerance shown to homosexuals. It's not known yet if they will carry out their bizarre and offensive threat, particularly since the federal Department of Public Safety has directed border guards to turn them away if they try to enter Canada, although the group claims its Canadian members might join their pathetic crusade.

According to Winnipeg MP Pat Martin, the Public Safety department has concluded that the church's message is hate speech, and, therefore, illegal under the Criminal Code. Unfortunately, Mr. Martin's logic is also in question.

Many people of all faiths believe homosexuality is a sin and that God punishes those who practice it. It is not illegal under the Criminal Code for a person to advocate that view, if it is done in good faith and based on a belief in a religious text. But even if the law could be twisted or interpreted to silence the church, it would still be wrong.

As offensive and insensitive as the church's views may be, they have a right to express them. In this case, it may be a right that many people wish did not exist, but there is more harm in silencing them than in allowing them to express their views. The principle of free speech allows for dissent, even if it is offensive. If church members disrupt the funeral service or block traffic, other laws can be used to restore order and decorum. But silencing the church on threat of punishment, even incarceration, would be an over-reaction that threatens a basic freedom.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Free the Web -- From the FCC!

We read:

"Last year, Comcast tweaked its network-management system to delay slightly the uploading of data through BitTorrent, one of the peer-to-peer services people use to swap movies, music and other large-bandwidth content. Comcast didn't discriminate against BitTorrent based on the content or, it says, to compete, arguing that it acted under its terms of usage so that consumers overall had the best experience. (Think of how controlling traffic with red lights gets to the ultimate destination faster.) Comcast and BitTorrent agreed in March that Comcast would find other techniques to manage its network. The companies issued a news release saying "these technical issues can be worked out through private business discussions without the need for government intervention." The FCC didn't take the hint.

The real problem is how to maintain the Web as a free and open commons, available for all to use in reasonable ways. An article in Britain's Guardian newspaper put it well: "The family gathers for tea, and there are four cream cakes for four people. If one person grabbed three of them, words would be said. However, peer-to-peer sharers think it's perfectly OK to grab three quarters of the communal internet bandwidth."

Instead of offering ways to keep the Web unclogged, the FCC decided that from now on it must approve how Internet service providers manage the fast-changing demands on bandwidth. The rationale suggests that the FCC now thinks of the Web as a "common carrier," the phrase earlier generations of regulators used to justify government management of industries.

Today's call for government regulation is under the well-intentioned cry of "net neutrality," not the more accurate, "Let's regulate the Web the way they regulated railroads." If setting reasonable tariffs for railroad freight was overreaching, imagine regulators trying to set reasonable practices or prices for different packets of online data. Do we really want an FCC as modern-day ICC deciding how many YouTube video downloads are reasonable?

Internet service is a competitive business, though cable and telecommunication companies do themselves no favors by occasionally acting like duopolists, and they should disclose their network practices. The key matter of social policy is that the Web needs more investment to keep capacity growing faster than Web developers find ways to use it. This is harder as large-bandwidth movies and music migrate online. It will be harder still if potential investors conclude that pricing and network management will be regulated by anything other than supply and demand.

Government's role on the Web is to ensure more competition and more consumer choice, not less competition and diminished consumer choice by turning the Web into a regulated industry. The Internet has become one of the most powerful innovations of our time, in part because it hasn't been burdened by government intervention. Those of us who want to keep the Web free should remember that the best way to keep an industry free is simply to keep it free.

In a 1999 referendum, roughly two thirds of Australians voted in favor of retaining the monarchy.

"In what has been labelled a "triumph of pomposity", an advertisement for beer has been withdrawn from Australian billboards at a cost of nearly $10,000 after complaints by monarchists upset at its apparent pro-republican sentiment. "Forget the monarchy, support the publicans" declared the cheeky billboard for Coopers beer, one of Australia's favourite brews.

But the Australian Monarchists League (AML) was not amused and, with the new centre left government aiming to reignite the republican debate in Australia, they complained to Coopers, demanding that the billboards be taken down.

AML national chairman Philip Benwell said the problem was not with the humour of the slogan but the fact that they considered it a political statement and an attack on Australia's constitutional monarchy. "Some may see the ad as humorous, and I don't doubt that some people within Coopers viewed it that way," Mr Benwell said, adding his group simply wanted to "protect the denigration of the monarchy".

Being a strong monarchist myself, I am rather pleased by this. While the Left never let up in their attempts to censor conservatives, why should not conservatives play the same game occasionally? If it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander.

This has not been a big issue in Australia, however. I spend hours reading the Australian media every day but the first I heard of it was when I saw the above report from "The Times" of London.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Cartoon publisher has a win

We read:

"Ezra Levant is off the hook and he isn't happy about it. Two years ago, his now-defunct Western Standard magazine - a rare conservative voice in liberal Canada - became one of the few publications to dare reprint the notorious Danish cartoons of Mohammed.

The magazine was headquartered in the province of Alberta, leading two different local Muslim groups to file complaints against Levant with the Alberta Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Established in the 1970s to hear discrimination complaints in the areas of housing and employment, Canada's HRCs slowly morphed into a combination censor board/secret police, "investigating" so-called "hate sites" on the web, fining Christian organizations and individuals found guilty of "offending" gay activists, and charging Canada's oldest magazine, and its columnist Mark Steyn, with "flagrant Islamophobia."

Levant was interrogated by a government bureaucrat this past January - an interrogation he videotaped and posted on YouTube. Levant's mocking, impassioned performance, which challenged the HRC's very legitimacy, was viewed hundreds of thousands of times, made Levant an overnight free speech hero, and ignited a national debate about Canada's beloved policy of multiculturalism.... His legal bills topped $100,000, and he estimates the cases have cost Alberta taxpayers $500,000.

Then, for reasons that remain unclear, one Muslim group - the Supreme Islamic Council run by Imam Syed Soharwardy - suddenly dropped its complaint against Ezra Levant in February. Finally, on August 6, the Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities complaint was dismissed by the Alberta HRC. Levant had "won" what he'd taken to calling "the first blasphemy case in Canada in 80 years."

Like Mark Steyn, he wanted to take the matter further so he could get a precedent-setting verdict in a higher court. There are still 17 other cases against him, however, so he may well have that chance yet.

"A legal appeal over a 2003 Texas law mandating a moment of silence for schoolchildren is heating up. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to hear the case this fall. Both sides have asked for oral arguments and advocacy groups are weighing in with friend-of-the-court briefs.

A North Texas couple is appealing the January ruling from a federal district court that upheld the law. U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn said the law has a secular purpose of encouraging thoughtful contemplation and does not advance or inhibit religion.

Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a news release Monday that the state will argue that the statute is constitutional. It requires schoolchildren to begin each day with pledges of allegiance to the U.S. and Texas flags followed by a minute of silence to "reflect, pray, (or) meditate."

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Australia: Whisky ad too sexy

Sounds like a great ad:

"An alcohol advertisement with topless Swedish sunbathers being stalked by peeping toms could prompt a crackdown on the industry's advertising tactics. Outraged health groups will lodge formal complaints about the Jim Beam advertisement, describing it as one of the most offensive promotions in the industry's history. The Federal Government has slammed it.

The bourbon maker's campaign, The Neighbours, includes TV and internet ads showing two blondes in G-strings applying sunscreen, bouncing on a trampoline and finally stripping naked as they're watched through a hedge by "Stevo next door" and his mates.

A 30-second TV version, first shown on Friday on Fox Sports, features one semi-naked women stating: "We say, Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, take off your cozzie." Viewers are then directed to a website with a longer ad in which the women are spied on as they undress. The camera zooms in on their breasts and backsides before ending with a close-up of one topless woman washing dishes at the kitchen sink.

The Australian Drug Foundation and VicHealth will make complaints against the ad, claiming it trivialises the criminal act of stalking, objectifies women and links sex to alcohol - a breach of the industry's own self-regulated advertising code.

Victory for Free Speech as Third Circuit Issues Ruling against Temple University

We read:

"Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued an opinion in DeJohn v. Temple University upholding a decision by a federal district court that Temple University's former speech code is unconstitutional. Temple's code prohibited, among other things, "generalized sexist remarks and behavior." In September 2007, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Third Circuit to uphold the lower court's ruling.

"The Third Circuit's ruling today is a clear and crucial victory for freedom of speech at our nation's public colleges and universities," FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. "The court's decision serves as unequivocal notice to university administrators across the country that the First Amendment still applies on campus. Today's victory demonstrates, yet again, that public universities maintain unconstitutional speech codes at their peril."

The lawsuit against Temple University was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in February 2006 by attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) on behalf of Temple student Christian DeJohn. DeJohn's complaint alleged both that Temple had engaged in actions that violated his rights and that Temple was violating the free speech rights of all of its students by maintaining an unconstitutional speech code.

Today's ruling, authored by Judge D. Brooks Smith, unequivocally states that "[d]iscussion by adult students in a college classroom should not be restricted." In holding that Temple's former speech code "provides no shelter for core protected speech," Judge Smith found the policy to be facially overbroad.

Friday, August 08, 2008

"Martin Bashir, famous for nodding sympathetically at both Diana, Princess of Wales and Michael Jackson, has apologised after making a series of sexist remarks to a room full of American journalists.

The British television presenter has been forced into a grovelling apology after joking that he was surrounded by a host of "Asian babes" during an after-dinner speech to the Asian American Journalists Association.

Looking around the room in Chicago during the organisation's annual gala banquet last week, Bashir said: "I'm happy to be in the midst of so many Asian babes. In fact, I'm happy that the podium covers me from the waist down."

Not content with offending the assembled professionals just once, Bashir went on to say that a speech should be "like a dress on a beautiful woman - long enough to cover the important parts and short enough to keep your interest, like my colleague Juju's". The audience began to boo and Juju Chang, who is a fellow television presenter on the ABC channel, retorted: "See what I have to put up with?"

"Upon learning last month the state had approved ads promoting South Carolina as a gay destination, the head of the state's tourism agency said this week he wanted the campaign to continue because of public relations concerns. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism director Chad Prosser said the agency had no authority to ask the ads be taken down anyway, since the contract was through a third-party British vendor. "There was nothing that could be done to pull it," Prosser said. "The campaign was going to end before that whole chain of events could take place," he added, reports Columbia, S.C.'s The State.

Gov. Mark Sanford and others objected to the ad content - calling the state "So Gay" - arguing state tourism dollars were being used to make a political statement. After the ad campaign became news in S.C. - a week after Prosser found out about it - Prosser announced the state would not pay the vendor, reports State writer John O'Connor.

Prosser said he did not ask the ads be removed for three reasons: concerns the advertising and tour companies would use it for free publicity; the agency could not remove the ads; and the campaign had nearly run its course, coinciding with gay pride events in London.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

You Still Can't Write About Muhammad

We read:

"Starting in 2002, Spokane, Wash., journalist Sherry Jones toiled weekends on a racy historical novel about Aisha, the young wife of the prophet Muhammad. Ms. Jones learned Arabic, studied scholarly works about Aisha's life, and came to admire her protagonist as a woman of courage. When Random House bought her novel last year in a $100,000, two-book deal, she was ecstatic. This past spring, she began plans for an eight-city book tour after the Aug. 12 publication date of "The Jewel of Medina" -- a tale of lust, love and intrigue in the prophet's harem.

It's not going to happen: In May, Random House abruptly called off publication of the book. The series of events that torpedoed this novel are a window into how quickly fear stunts intelligent discourse about the Muslim world.

Random House feared the book would become a new "Satanic Verses," the Salman Rushdie novel of 1988 that led to death threats, riots and the murder of the book's Japanese translator, among other horrors. In an interview about Ms. Jones's novel, Thomas Perry, deputy publisher at Random House Publishing Group, said that it "disturbs us that we feel we cannot publish it right now." He said that after sending out advance copies of the novel, the company received "from credible and unrelated sources, cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment."

After consulting security experts and Islam scholars, Mr. Perry said the company decided "to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel."

"I am not a racist," Clinton said Monday in a testy interview with ABC News in Monrovia, Liberia, in response to a question that wasn't quite related to that subject. "I've never made a racist comment and I never attacked [Obama] personally."

Doesn't this imply that Clinton agrees that it would be racist to attack (maybe even criticize) Obama personally?

"Obama himself never suggested that the Clintons had harbored racial animus, though his campaign did at least once make that case to the media, and some of his supporters overtly denounced the former president. Former Clinton aides acknowledge that Bill Clinton, particularly in comparing Obama's South Carolina win to Jesse Jackson's victory, all but invited the charge from Obama's allies.

I must confess that I never understood how it was racist to compare Obama, a black man who won an overwhelming percentage of the black vote in the South Carolina primary, to Jesse Jackson, a black man who won an overwhelming percentage of the vote in the South Carolina primary.

Maybe some angry Obamanaut or guilty Clintonista can explain it to me.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Strange Times

An anti-Israel antisemite writes some rather unpleasant stuff about rich Jews in a French periodical and gets fired over it. A columnist in the NYT with the distinctively Muslim surname of Cohen defends the free speech rights of the foul Frog and says he should not have been fired. And I agree with the NYT columnist!

I rarely agree with anything in the NY Pravda and I am about as pro-Israel as you can get so it does feel pretty odd.

British government bans the word 'obese' to describe overweight children

How confused can you get? They want to harass kids into losing weight but don't want to hurt their feelings. What do they think the kids feel about being told that their weight is unacceptable?

"Parents of primary schoolchildren will start getting letters next month telling them how fat their children are under Government plans to tackle childhood obesity. But however much they weigh, no child will ever be described as "obese".

The Department of Health faced criticism yesterday for a "prissy" approach to tackling obesity after it said that it did not want the term "obese" included in the letters.

The department said that research had shown that the term was a turn-off, so instead it will use the term "very overweight" for those children whose body mass index exceeds 30, in an attempt to enlist parents' support.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Confederate flag still flying -- bigger than ever

We read:

"Despite years of boycotts, schoolyard bans, and banishment from capitol domes, the Southern battle colors are flying, higher than ever. Indeed, the Tampa Confederate Veterans Memorial and its 139-foot flagpole features one of at least four giant "soldier's flags" flying over bumper-to-bumper interstates in Florida and Alabama. With more planned in Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, and possibly South Carolina, the interstate show of force, experts say, highlights the potential backlash from banning nostalgic symbols from the public square.

Moreover, the giant flags are also the outward sign of a deeper struggle within the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), a century-old organization historically more likely to hold battlefield reenactments than to stage political warfare.

What effect the flags will have on public perceptions and even tourism intensifies the issue as a political force here in the only part of the country to suffer the humiliation of total defeat.

"The battle flag "is a profound statement ... and the targets of our nerve-getting are the business community, the tourist community and the political community," says Marion Lambert, the Brandon, Fla., beekeeper who spearheaded the Tampa flag monument.

Unlike the flags that were taken down from the capitol domes in Columbia, S.C. and Tallahassee, Fla., these new auto dealer-sized flags - sewn in China - may be legally untouchable. Raised on private property, the Tampa flag was OK'd by county zoning officials and the Federal Aviation Administration.

"It's not going to go away," says Jim Farmer, a history professor at the University of South Carolina at Aiken. "There is a subculture within the white Southern population, of which the SCV is the most visible voice, that feels besieged by modern culture in general, and they identify the Old South and Confederacy as a way of life and a period of time before the siege began to really hit the South."

To Confederate sympathizers, opposition to the flag is misguided. They say the "soldier's flag" represents not slavery, but the valor of Southern men in their lost cause......

Still, it's not clear whether the flag is actually that sensitive a topic. The economic effect of NAACP and NCAA boycotts in South Carolina has been minimal, according to state officials.

More recently, a Florida newspaper poll revealed that few drivers found the Tampa flag offensive, which surprised many officials.

"A young Jewish congressman from the battleground state of Virginia has joined the shortlist to be John McCain's vice-presidential running mate. Eric Cantor, 45, would be a dramatic choice for Mr McCain, who is running almost level with Barack Obama in national polls but whose aides believe he needs to shake-up the White House race if he is to prevail in November's general election.

Aides to Mr McCain revealed that Mr Cantor, the only Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives, had been asked to submit documents as part of a rigorous vetting process to hunt out any closet skeletons.

Mr Cantor would be by far the most exciting - though potentially risky - choice. A prodigious fundraiser with a young, photogenic family, support from evangelical Christians and strong backing from hard-line conservatives, he would shore up many of Mr McCain's weaknesses.

Mr Cantor would be the first Jewish vice-president, an historic milestone that Senator Joe Lieberman just missed in 2000 when Al Gore lost to George W Bush by 567 votes.

This would be an amusing choice in a few ways. It would of course drive the Jewish conspiracy theorists out of their tiny brains but the real fun would be seeing how the Left would make this into a "racist" choice. Calling black white (Whoops! Am I allowed to say that?) has never been a problem for the Left.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Obama plays the race card

We read:

" Senator John McCain's campaign accused Senator Barack Obama on Thursday of playing "the race card," citing his remarks that Republicans would try to scare voters by pointing out that he "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

After initially huffing and puffing, Obama admitted that it was his race that he was referring to. See here. So he was accusing McCain of racism, even though McCain has never raised the issue of Obama's race.

Betcha didn't know that! Apparently there is a bill before Congress to regulate what goes into cigarettes:

"Because the bill would ban the use of all other flavoring additives (like cloves and peppermint) but permit the use of menthol, and since menthol is overwhelming used by African American smokers -- including Black children -- it has already been damned for being racially insensitive if not outright racist by the Congressional Black Caucus, African American former HHH Secretary Louis W. Sullivan and most other former HHS Secretaries, the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network, and ASH, America's first antismoking organization.

Did you follow that? I am not sure I did but the idea seems to be that menthol encourages black kids to smoke and smoking is bad for you so allowing menthol in cigarettes is racist. When your argument is flimsy, the race card is always a great help. The article also claims that cigarettes are dangerously radioactive.

The article is by by Banzhaf, a lawyer notorious for far-out lawsuits about "threats" to health emanating from everyday products. I gather that his activities have made him a rich man.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Leftist hate is OK

An interesting report from NYC

"What I don't tolerate, and what I believe the Constitution doesn't protect, is speech designed to provoke hate or violence against groups of people. Period. So, when I saw bright-green posters declaring, "DIE YUPPIE SCUM DIE," I recognized the hate speech.

Substitute "Yuppie" with "Jew," and you see what I mean. About 70 years ago, Hitler rallied his National Socialists against the Jews - mainly because the Jews could be easily singled out, but also because they were successful, and it was easy to convince the Germans that the reason for all of their feelings of loss or oppression were caused by the "rich Jews." It's nice to sneak hate in through the back door, isn't it?

So, in protest of these signs - calling for the death of total strangers, for no other reason than that they're perceived to be richer than us, and therefore the cause of all of our misery - I began taking them down.

After about 12 posters, I was approached by Jerry The Peddler, an East Village fixture, political activist, organizer and general hustler for the antiwar movement. He asked what I thought I was doing, and I showed him the poster and explained that it was hate speech and shouldn't be tolerated. He acknowledged that I was right - it was hate speech, and, he added, "I hate Yuppies." I told him he had no right to call for their death, as I reached to take down another of his hate-filled posters. He grabbed my left hand - technically an assault - and bent my finger back. "I'll break your fingers, so that you'll never play guitar again, and if I see anymore of these posters down.I'll kill you," he said. You know the look of hate, and he had it in his eyes.

This is the true antiwar movement. These are the peace activists that you see when you turn on your TV and see a report about a protest or riot in New York City: "Support the antiwar movement - or we'll kill you."

It doesn't matter to them that I've defended their right to express their views for the last 30 years; because I "question" their motives, they've decided that I have no right to exist.

Those are the words of "AK-47" -- a poster to the college-admissions web forum AutoAdmit.com. AK-47 was one of a handful of students heaping misogynist scorn on women attending the nations' top law schools in 2007, in posts so vile they spurred a national debate on the limits of online anonymity, and an unprecedented federal lawsuit aimed at unmasking and punishing the posters.

Now lawyers for two female Yale Law School students have ascertained AK-47's real identity, along with the identities of other AutoAdmit posters, who all now face the likely publication of their names in court records -- potentially marking a death sentence for the comment trolls' budding legal careers even before the case has gone to trial.

The AutoAdmit controversy began even before one of the women, identified in court documents as "Jane Doe I," started classes in the fall of 2005, the lawsuit alleges. Doe I was alerted in the summer to an AutoAdmit comment thread entitled "Stupid Bitch to Attend Law School." The thread included messages such as, "I think I will sodomize her. Repeatedly" and a reply claiming "she has herpes." The second woman, Jane Doe II, was similarly attacked beginning in January 2007.

Both women tried in vain to persuade the administrators of the AutoAdmit.com site to remove the threads, according to the lawsuit. But then the story of the cyber-harassment hit the front page of The Washington Post, and the law school trolls became fodder for cable news shows. Soon after, the female law students, with help from Stanford and Yale law professors, filed the federal lawsuit in June 2007 seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.

The Jane Doe plaintiffs contend that the postings about them became etched into the first page of search engine results on their names, costing them prestigious jobs, infecting their relationships with friends and family, and even forcing one to stop going to the gym for fear of stalkers.

I am glad that some of the abusive scum have been exposed. Libel has never been covered by free speech. And the scum are budding lawyers! It figures, I guess. Great that their legal careers will now be stymied. Burger flipping is all that they are ethically fit for.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

PROBLEMS

There seems to be some problem with Internet Explorer at the moment. It could not access this site or several of my other sites. So I have temporarily moved to older and simpler templates to restore access.

"The feminist blogosphere erupted this week in a brief but intense conflagration over a New York Times story about BlogHer, the annual conference for female bloggers held this year in San Francisco. "Blogging's Glass Ceiling" was written by Times staffer Kara Jesella and appeared in the Times' Sunday "Styles" section, a week after the conclusion of BlogHer. In it, Jesella reported on the frustrations of some of the assembled writers about the lack of respect they receive on the Internet, a frontier that still whirs away on masculine energy, despite the fact that nearly as many women as men surf it every day, Salon reports.

According to some ticked critics of the Times, a lack of respect for female bloggers was etched into Jesella's piece itself. Among Feministe blogger PhysioProf's complaints was that the story was published in the "Styles" section, the section of the paper reserved for trend pieces, drink recipes, society photos and wedding announcements - in other words, the girl part of the paper, reports Salon writer Rebecca Traister.

PhysioProf also called out Jesella for her cliched lede (about BlogHer attendees taking over the men's rooms in the conference hotel), her reportorial focus on details that were female (there were lactation and changing rooms), superficial (women applying blush and eye shadow) and ridiculous (self-helpy affirmations posted in the bathroom stalls like "You are perfect"). She was also angry about Jesella's decision to draw attention to the emotional, sometimes weepy panels that took place during the gathering, and the piece's description of how the conference had "moved on" from last year's Kathy Sierra-inspired focus on how women are treated on the Internet, to discussions of how bloggers can increase their influence, reputation and profit.

"China has opened crevices in the Great Firewall that blocks access to many internet sites, allowing the public to see some quarters of cyberspace that it has long blocked.

The lifting of some restrictions could end controversy that has marred the smooth run-up to the start of the Games after the disclosure that the International Olympic Committee and the Bocog games organisers had cut a deal that enabled censors to block sites deemed sensitive or harmful to national security. The issue had caused a major stir and created dissension within the top ranks of the IOC because the move reneged on previous pledges of full free access during the August 8-24 Games.

The IOC said it had pressed China in talks on Thursday to open up the internet to visiting journalists. "The issues were put on the table and the IOC requested that the Olympic Games hosts address them."

Already today users in China were able to reach the website of Amnesty International as well Reporters Without Borders and German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. The BBC's Chinese language website was also expected to become available. Blocks on the main BBC English site were lifted a few months ago after remaining in place in China for years.

Is the American national anthem politically incorrect? From the 4th verse:Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

Mohammad

The truth can be offensive to some but it must be said

"HATE SPEECH" is free speech: The U.S. Supreme Court stated the general rule regarding protected speech in Texas v. Johnson (109 S.Ct. at 2544), when it held: "The government may not prohibit the verbal or nonverbal expression of an idea merely because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable." Federal courts have consistently followed this. Said Virginia federal district judge Claude Hilton: "The First Amendment does not recognize exceptions for bigotry, racism, and religious intolerance or ideas or matters some may deem trivial, vulgar or profane."

Even some advocacy of violence is protected by the 1st Amendment. In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously that speech advocating violent illegal actions to bring about social change is protected by the First Amendment "except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."

The double standard: Atheists can put up signs and billboards saying that Christianity is wrong and that is hunky dory. But if a Christian says that homosexuality is wrong, that is attacked as "hate speech"

One for the militant atheists to consider: "...it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg" -- Thomas Jefferson

"I think no subject should be off-limits, and I regard the laws in many Continental countries criminalizing Holocaust denial as philosophically repugnant and practically useless – in that they confirm to Jew-haters that the Jews control everything (otherwise why aren’t we allowed to talk about it?)" -- Mark Steyn

Voltaire's most famous saying was actually a summary of Voltaire's thinking by one of his biographers rather than something Voltaire said himself. Nonetheless it is a wholly admirable sentiment: "I disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it". I am of a similar mind.

The traditional advice about derogatory speech: "Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you". Apparently people today are not as emotionally robust as their ancestors were.

Why conservatives should not respond to Leftist abuse: "Never wrestle with a pig, because you'll both just get dirty, and the pig likes it.”

The KKK were members of the DEMOCRATIC party. Google "Klanbake" if you doubt it

A phobia is an irrational fear, so the terms "Islamophobic" and "homophobic" embody a claim that the people so described are mentally ill. There is no evidence for either claim. Both terms are simply abuse masquerading as diagnoses and suggest that the person using them is engaged in propaganda rather than in any form of rational or objective discourse.

Leftists often pretend that any mention of race is "racist" -- unless they mention it, of course. But leaving such irrational propaganda aside, which statements really are racist? Can statements of fact about race be "racist"? Such statements are simply either true or false. The most sweeping possible definition of racism is that a racist statement is a statement that includes a negative value judgment of some race. Absent that, a statement is not racist, for all that Leftists might howl that it is. Facts cannot be racist so nor is the simple statement of them racist. Here is a statement that cannot therefore be racist by itself, though it could be false: "Blacks are on average much less intelligent than whites". If it is false and someone utters it, he could simply be mistaken or misinformed.

Categorization is a basic human survival skill so racism as the Left define it (i.e. any awareness of race) is in fact neither right nor wrong. It is simply human

Whatever your definition of racism, however, a statement that simply mentions race is not thereby racist -- though one would think otherwise from American Presidential election campaigns. Is a statement that mentions dogs, "doggist" or a statement that mentions cats, "cattist"?

If any mention of racial differences is racist then all Leftists are racist too -- as "affirmative action" is an explicit reference to racial differences

Was Abraham Lincoln a racist? "You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. It is better for both, therefore, to be separated." -- Spoken at the White House to a group of black community leaders, August 14th, 1862

Gimlet-eyed Leftist haters sometimes pounce on the word "white" as racist. Will the time come when we have to refer to the White House as the "Full spectrum of light" House?

The spirit of liberty is "the spirit which is not too sure that it is right." and "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it." -- Judge Learned Hand

Mostly, a gaffe is just truth slipping out

Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)

First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean

It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.

It seems a pity that the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus is now little known. Remember, wrote the Stoic thinker, "that foul words or blows in themselves are no outrage, but your judgment that they are so. So when any one makes you angry, know that it is your own thought that has angered you. Wherefore make it your endeavour not to let your impressions carry you away."

"Since therefore the knowledge and survey of vice is in this world so necessary to the constituting of human virtue, and the scanning of error to the confirmation of truth, how can we more safely, and with less danger, scout into the regions of sin and falsity than by reading all manner of tractates, and hearing all manner of reason?" -- English poet John Milton (1608-1674) in Areopagitica

Leftists can try to get you fired from your job over something that you said and that's not an attack on free speech. But if you just criticize something that they say, then that IS an attack on free speech

The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) could have been speaking of much that goes on today when he said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

I despair of the ADL. Jews have enough problems already and yet in the ADL one has a prominent Jewish organization that does its best to make itself offensive to Christians. Their Leftism is more important to them than the welfare of Jewry -- which is the exact opposite of what they ostensibly stand for! Jewish cleverness seems to vanish when politics are involved. Fortunately, Christians are true to their saviour and have loving hearts. Jewish dissatisfaction with the myopia of the ADL is outlined here. Note that Foxy was too grand to reply to it.

There are also two blogspot blogs which record what I think are my main recent articles here and here. Similar content can be more conveniently accessed via my subject-indexed list of short articles here or here (I rarely write long articles these days)

NOTE: The archives provided by blogspot below are rather inconvenient. They break each month up into small bits. If you want to scan whole months at a time, the backup archives will suit better. See here or here